CARIBOU, Maine — The City Council has scheduled a public hearing on June 11 to discuss the proposal of a group of rural residents to break away from the municipality and form their own town.
When secessionists — expressing frustration with high taxes — first announced their intentions last year, they estimated there were 2,063 registered voters in the more rural part of Caribou they proposed become the town of Lyndon. The secession petition they circulated needed the signatures of 1,096 voters — more than 50 percent of the registered voters in the area — before the proposal could be formally considered.
The Caribou Secession Committee submitted 1,315 signatures on March 9, and Caribou City Clerk Jayne Farrin validated 1,198, triggering the hearing.
During the upcoming hearing set for 6 p.m. at the Caribou Performing Arts Center, secession committee members will make a formal presentation to municipal residents and officers, describing the problems that led to their proposal and explaining their plans to resolve them.
The secession proposal would remove 80 percent of the taxable property in Caribou, which is roughly everything but the downtown district, to form the new municipality of Lyndon. The majority of the population of 8,189 people, however, would remain in what’s left of Caribou.
Caribou Secession Committee spokesperson Paul Camping told council members Monday night that his committee was eager to have the public hearing. He also let the council know that the committee’s Impact on Property Taxes Report for taxpayers in secession territory and in Caribou, which is required by law, has been completed.
The report won’t be available until the June 11 hearing, according to the secession committee.
Mayor Gary Aiken said it would be nice to see the report before deciding on a date for the hearing so the public would have a heads-up on the evening’s discussion.
“Caribou City Council is stalling,” Camping said in an interview after the meeting. “They want to see the report — that’s not how it works.”
Camping said he wanted to save the report for the public hearing and was afraid that if the information was released early it would be used in a way that would damage the secession committee’s credibility.
Camping left Monday’s meeting shortly after the public comment period before the council settled on a date for the public hearing. Council members agreed on June 11 with an alternate date of June 16.
Maine law, M.R.S.A. Title 30-A, Part 2, Subpart 2, Chapter 113 “Consolidation, Secession and Annexation, Sect. 2171 & 2172,” spells out the process for residents of a territory to secede from a municipality. Once the hearing is held, legislation must be submitted within one year and passed by the Legislature for secession to proceed.
The Caribou City Council will meet again at 6 p.m. Monday, June 8, in council chambers at City Hall.
Aroostook Republican & News writer Natalie de La Garza and BDN writer Julia Bayly contributed to this report.